Titans sweep Storm

It was an all-around beautiful day for the LCC baseball team on May 3. Not only was the sun out and shining, the Titans avenged an early season loss to Chemeketa by sweeping the doubleheader by scores of 7-3 and 11-4.

“Honestly, today’s games went like we expected. We expect to win every game,” assistant coach Jeff Lyle said. “We didn’t play well on defense but we were able to overcome it with our bats and pitching.”
Sophomore pitchers John Linscott and Skip Spencer proved to be too much to handle for the Chemeketa batters as they both led the way on the mound in each game.

“It felt really good to be able to stick with the pitching approach coach has for us,” Spencer said. “We try to attack the strike zone and invite contact from hitters.“

With the win, LCC (19-15, 14-8 Southern Region) now trails first-place Mt. Hood by three games in the Southern Region standings and plays host to the Saints this weekend.

“We are inching closer and closer to Mt. Hood and I believe the way we played today will carry momentum over to Saturday,” Linscott said. “Two wins this weekend will put us in great position down the final stretch of the season.”

In the first game, Linscott controlled the pace by throwing seven innings, giving up only three runs — one earned — with two hits.
The Titans jumped out to an early 2-0 lead through the first four innings on RBIs by Spencer and freshman Dan Copeland. The Storm would come back and score runs in 3 consecutive innings to tie the score at 2-2 entering the bottom of the fifth inning.

LCC jumped over Chemeketa in the bottom of the fifth and put the game away by scoring five runs in the inning on four hits to go up 7-2.
Although the Storm would score a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, it wouldn’t prove to be enough as freshman pitcher Zach Kayser threw the final two innings and closed the door on any possible Storm rallies.

Sophomores Jimmy Sanchez and Matt Myrmo each contributed two hits and an RBI while fellow sophomore Darrell Hunter went 2-for-4.
The Titan bats came out with a bang in the nightcap, scoring 11 runs on 11 hits including a three-run home run by sophomore Joe Offer.
After trailing 4-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, the Titans went on to score seven runs on five hits, this was highlighted by Offer’s two-out, three-run blast over the left field fence.

“That was my first home run since my senior year in high school. So, to finally get one out after coming close a fair amount of times these past two seasons felt great,” Offer said.

Freshman Elliot Sherrell had a big two-run single in the inning also, scoring Hunter and sophomore Tym Pearson from first base. Both Hunter and Pearson had run-scoring singles in the inning.

LCC tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning led by Spencer’s two-run double. Sophomore Josh Schlegel added the other RBI in the inning to cap off the scoring for Titans.

Spencer led the way on the mound for LCC, throwing six innings and only giving up one earned run on two hits. Freshman Jordan Van Engers threw a perfect seventh inning giving up no runs to close out the game.

“It was really nice to have Kayser in game one and Van Engers in game two come in and slam the door like that,” Lyle said.
Sophomores Sanchez and Hunter each had two hits in the game while Pearson added another hit and RBI.

LCC returns to action May 7 when the men host Mt. Hood in a doubleheader showdown of the Southern Region’s top two teams. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.